nervousnerd he/him Posted August 28, 2016 Posted August 28, 2016 Has there been any discussion of why the Santhid saved Shallan? Do you think it was just because she looked it right in the eye when she was lowered to study it or was it because she was a proto-Radiant? I know there has been no mention of her having any power over animals or anything, but I feel there must have been something about her to attract the help of such a creature.
Oversleep Posted August 28, 2016 Posted August 28, 2016 I fail to find that trope at tvtropes, but I think it's along the lines of "a dolphin helps man reach the shore" and the like. Not everything is magical. ... Probably. 1
thegatorgirl00 she/her Posted August 28, 2016 Posted August 28, 2016 25 minutes ago, Oversleep said: I fail to find that trope at tvtropes, but I think it's along the lines of "a dolphin helps man reach the shore" and the like. Not everything is magical. ... Probably. There's the Heroic Dolphin.
Brightness Enna she/her Posted August 28, 2016 Posted August 28, 2016 Storms, I can see both sides. In one way, santhids could be the helpful dolphins of Roshar, but that doesn't make much sense to me logically and Sanderson always seems to be somebody to make things logical. So maybe santhids are like, super connected with the spiritual realm and something deep inside that nudged it to help Shallan. It could be sentient, or at least partly so. Conclusion: I have literally no idea 1
Djarskublar he/him Posted August 28, 2016 Posted August 28, 2016 Pattern could have asked nicely. I agree it was a little strange, but I just rolled with it.
CalaCrisp88 Posted August 28, 2016 Posted August 28, 2016 Probably the same reason the Reshi greatshell saved Rysn 3
+Lewis Nethur He/Him Posted August 28, 2016 Posted August 28, 2016 11 hours ago, 8giraffe8 said: Probably the same reason the Reshi greatshell saved Rysn Agreed. Judging from their massive size and small populations, we can be pretty sure that they live extremely long lives (they also probably have incredibly high mortality rates among their offspring, but that's not really relevant). The ones that aren't targeted for hunting, IE: the Reshi "islands," Santhids, and Chulls (not a greatshell, but still), most likely develop a pretty positive opinion and comfort level with humans. Since there technically aren't any seasons on Roshar we wouldn't really expect these creatures to follow any kind of set migratory pattern, meaning that, once they're massive enough to no longer have any natural predators, they would probably just kind of...float around randomly and eat. Characters in-book speculate that these animals are exceptionally intelligent. It seems plausible to me that the Santhid was passing by on one of its random wandering trips, saw the ship full of people, and decided to just follow out of curiosity. When it saw Shallan drowning its natural response was to attempt to help. I'm not aware of any verifiable documented case of dolphins doing this in real life (though we've had legends about them doing it for centuries if not millennia), but there have been instances of lions and apes rushing to the aid of human children when they were being attacked by other animals or brutalized by other people (...though obviously it doesn't always work out great...). I'd refrain from attaching too much significance to the Santhid at this point; its behavior, while seemingly random or even arbitrary, doesn't seem particularly out of place or implausible. ...Then again...who knows, maybe we've just found our missing worldhopping kandra... Sidenote: If I were a worldhopping kandra, I'd probably eat a Reshi Island. 1
nervousnerd he/him Posted August 28, 2016 Author Posted August 28, 2016 1 hour ago, hwiles said: Then again...who knows, maybe we've just found our missing worldhopping kandra... Sidenote: If I were a worldhopping kandra, I'd probably eat a Reshi Island. Hmm. How would that even work? I mean, yeah the size alone would be hard but shelled creatures generally don't have any bones due to their exoskeleton being used to support their bodies.
+Lewis Nethur He/Him Posted August 28, 2016 Posted August 28, 2016 5 hours ago, nervousnerd said: Hmm. How would that even work? I mean, yeah the size alone would be hard but shelled creatures generally don't have any bones due to their exoskeleton being used to support their bodies. Please note, I don't actually think a kandra is going to swallow an island sized creature, that'd be silly for a great number of reasons, I just thought it was a funny image Slight BoM spoilers: Spoiler Kandra don't need to eat bones to duplicate something, they just have to have to be familiar with its flesh (see: a Melaan in Bands of Mourning). The easiest way we've seen for them to become familiar with flesh is to have eaten it, however, there are more and more implications with each Mistborn novel that Kandra have a tremendous capacity to morph themselves into things they have never eaten, so long as they intellectually understand what they're doing. IE: Biochemistry + Kandra = Godlike Super Monsters (Zerg?). I'd guess that they would probably need to keep a greatshell's shell intact if they wanted to morph into one, but that's purely speculation. 2
Bugsy he/him Posted August 28, 2016 Posted August 28, 2016 40 minutes ago, hwiles said: Please note, I don't actually think a kandra is going to swallow an island sized creature, that'd be silly for a great number of reasons, I just thought it was a funny image Slight BoM spoilers: Hide contents Kandra don't need to eat bones to duplicate something, they just have to have to be familiar with its flesh (see: a Melaan in Bands of Mourning). The easiest way we've seen for them to become familiar with flesh is to have eaten it, however, there are more and more implications with each Mistborn novel that Kandra have a tremendous capacity to morph themselves into things they have never eaten, so long as they intellectually understand what they're doing. IE: Biochemistry + Kandra = Godlike Super Monsters (Zerg?). I'd guess that they would probably need to keep a greatshell's shell intact if they wanted to morph into one, but that's purely speculation. Spoilering just in case I think the biggest issue there would be the lack of a gemheart, which we know are essential to the great shells. If a Kandra were to steal one from, say, Sadeas, and then became a fish to find a submerged shell of a dead island, it could potentially replicate it, though. That'd be pretty funny, actually XD 2
+Child of Hodor Posted August 29, 2016 Posted August 29, 2016 (edited) I was reminded of the Santhid saving Shallan when I watched these videos about humpback whales recently. Edited August 29, 2016 by Child of Hodor Added another video
Areka she/her Posted August 29, 2016 Posted August 29, 2016 (edited) From the little piece here (WoR spoilers ahead) http://www.tor.com/2014/08/06/stormlight-archive-scene-after-words-of-radiance/#comments%C2%A0 I always assumed Jasnah had something to do with it. That, and the books that show up so unexpectedly on shore. She probably does not have much stormlight, but maybe the Santhid needs only a little nudge/versus changing the very nature of something such as the rope. Edited August 29, 2016 by Areka
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